(no subject)
I'm supposed to be in math class right now, but I woke up late and decided to just not go rather than end up coming in half an hour late (or coming in only fifteen minutes late having not showered, eww). I know, I'm bad. D=
So, because my film studies class isn't until 1:40 this afternoon, I started clicking around on the web, checking out news sites and hobby forums and whathaveyou, and generally doing a whole lot of nothing. (The mall opened just a few minutes ago, so after this post I'll go put in a few apps at some of the stores I know will be hiring for the summer.) My mind started to wander, and after a while I started thinking about body modification.
Now, let me start off with a disclaimer: I am wandering in on the shallow end of the body mod subculture. I have no tattoos, no facial or body piercings; my ears are pierced, but the second piercing on my left ear kept getting infected (unsanitary piercing palor + decided lack of pure surgical steel earrings as opposed to S.steel plated copper posts = eww oww gross get it out) so I removed it and let it heal over. I have always admired people who mod however, for having the balls to alter their bodies in ways that mainstream society may not always approve of. This is especially true of people who have the good taste necessary to transform themselves into living works of art.
Which brings me to what I was thinking about when I started this post. For the last couple of years, I've been considering getting a tattoo. This would be a rather large back piece featuring clockwork wings, gears and all, stretching from my shoulders down to the bottom of my ribcage and spanning the entire width of that area at the very least. The only thing that has prevented me from going through with this is the expense of such a project and the fact that I don't know any tattoo artists well enough that I could trust them with something like this; how many people ask for archaic mechanical elements in their body art, I wonder? But I should ask myself a few important questions that I haven't really done before now, so...
1) Would I even like this type of body art, enough to commit to it for life? As with many things in life, I could never be sure until I tried it, I think. It's not that I'm unsure of wanting a tattoo now, it's that I never know if I'll regret getting one fifty or even twenty years down the road. If you take a piercing out, over time it'll heal or at least be less noticeable, but tattoos stay with you.
2) Do I really want to have needles injecting ink into my skin? I'm a bit of a pussy when it comes to pain. It's true that I've cut myself a few times without noticing and went an entire twenty-four hours without realizing I'd broken my arm back in elementary school, but I yelp whenever the cats scratch me and I've always had an irrational fear of needles anyway. Would I be able to sit still during this proceedure? I suppose I could design a smaller tattoo that would be easy enough to blend in stylisticly with the bigger one in order to test myself; a lower back tattoo would suffice for this, as that's supposed to be the most painful place on your body to get tattoo'd. If I could sit through that, the back piece would be no problem.
3) Why am I getting this done? Actually, this one I have asked myself and answered before, but it does have some bearing upon the other two. The reason for getting a tattoo in the first place is that it gives me just another canvas to work with. While I would be getting another person to actually apply the artwork to my skin, I would be the one designing the original image to be used. As for the design itself, well...I've always been fascinated with the idea of flight as freedom. The ability to go where you want, when you want, with virtually no obstacles to deal with. Another idea I'm interested in is the body as a machine, a complex collection of biological systems performing set tasks at fixed intervals and contributing to the overall function of a larger unit. Mechanical wings would allow me to combine the two concepts in a visually interesting way. As for why I chose old-fashioned clockwork over the more relevant robotic/cybernetic look, I just thought it would look cool. =D
4) The best tattoos not only look aesthetically pleasing, they also tell a story or express something about an individual's personality. What would this tattoo mean to me, and what would someone else interpret it to mean if they saw it? Frankly, I don't give a damn if anyone sees this tattoo or what they would think about it, so the second part of this question is a moot point. The first part was partially answered above, but there's another reason now that I really think about it. I feel trapped here; this place is like a cesspool with an inescapable pull. I'm tied here by work and school, family and friends. It's not just this city, it's the entire state. I don't want to live in Alabama anymore. I want to just...fly away and never come back, but I know that isn't possible right now. That frustration, I think, is also a deciding factor into why I chose wings. If I had real wings of my own, I don't think I'd still be here. The wing tattoo would be...what? Motivation, inspiration, a reminder that I still have the ability to get out of here if only I try hard enough to find a way. It would stay relevant for any future ruts I'd find myself in, too, letting me know that I can always change myself and my situation even if it's only in a small way like changing my appearance.
...I think I could live with a tattoo. I should start looking for reputable artists now, because I think I'm going to save up and treat myself to one when I finally graduate.
So, because my film studies class isn't until 1:40 this afternoon, I started clicking around on the web, checking out news sites and hobby forums and whathaveyou, and generally doing a whole lot of nothing. (The mall opened just a few minutes ago, so after this post I'll go put in a few apps at some of the stores I know will be hiring for the summer.) My mind started to wander, and after a while I started thinking about body modification.
Now, let me start off with a disclaimer: I am wandering in on the shallow end of the body mod subculture. I have no tattoos, no facial or body piercings; my ears are pierced, but the second piercing on my left ear kept getting infected (unsanitary piercing palor + decided lack of pure surgical steel earrings as opposed to S.steel plated copper posts = eww oww gross get it out) so I removed it and let it heal over. I have always admired people who mod however, for having the balls to alter their bodies in ways that mainstream society may not always approve of. This is especially true of people who have the good taste necessary to transform themselves into living works of art.
Which brings me to what I was thinking about when I started this post. For the last couple of years, I've been considering getting a tattoo. This would be a rather large back piece featuring clockwork wings, gears and all, stretching from my shoulders down to the bottom of my ribcage and spanning the entire width of that area at the very least. The only thing that has prevented me from going through with this is the expense of such a project and the fact that I don't know any tattoo artists well enough that I could trust them with something like this; how many people ask for archaic mechanical elements in their body art, I wonder? But I should ask myself a few important questions that I haven't really done before now, so...
1) Would I even like this type of body art, enough to commit to it for life? As with many things in life, I could never be sure until I tried it, I think. It's not that I'm unsure of wanting a tattoo now, it's that I never know if I'll regret getting one fifty or even twenty years down the road. If you take a piercing out, over time it'll heal or at least be less noticeable, but tattoos stay with you.
2) Do I really want to have needles injecting ink into my skin? I'm a bit of a pussy when it comes to pain. It's true that I've cut myself a few times without noticing and went an entire twenty-four hours without realizing I'd broken my arm back in elementary school, but I yelp whenever the cats scratch me and I've always had an irrational fear of needles anyway. Would I be able to sit still during this proceedure? I suppose I could design a smaller tattoo that would be easy enough to blend in stylisticly with the bigger one in order to test myself; a lower back tattoo would suffice for this, as that's supposed to be the most painful place on your body to get tattoo'd. If I could sit through that, the back piece would be no problem.
3) Why am I getting this done? Actually, this one I have asked myself and answered before, but it does have some bearing upon the other two. The reason for getting a tattoo in the first place is that it gives me just another canvas to work with. While I would be getting another person to actually apply the artwork to my skin, I would be the one designing the original image to be used. As for the design itself, well...I've always been fascinated with the idea of flight as freedom. The ability to go where you want, when you want, with virtually no obstacles to deal with. Another idea I'm interested in is the body as a machine, a complex collection of biological systems performing set tasks at fixed intervals and contributing to the overall function of a larger unit. Mechanical wings would allow me to combine the two concepts in a visually interesting way. As for why I chose old-fashioned clockwork over the more relevant robotic/cybernetic look, I just thought it would look cool. =D
4) The best tattoos not only look aesthetically pleasing, they also tell a story or express something about an individual's personality. What would this tattoo mean to me, and what would someone else interpret it to mean if they saw it? Frankly, I don't give a damn if anyone sees this tattoo or what they would think about it, so the second part of this question is a moot point. The first part was partially answered above, but there's another reason now that I really think about it. I feel trapped here; this place is like a cesspool with an inescapable pull. I'm tied here by work and school, family and friends. It's not just this city, it's the entire state. I don't want to live in Alabama anymore. I want to just...fly away and never come back, but I know that isn't possible right now. That frustration, I think, is also a deciding factor into why I chose wings. If I had real wings of my own, I don't think I'd still be here. The wing tattoo would be...what? Motivation, inspiration, a reminder that I still have the ability to get out of here if only I try hard enough to find a way. It would stay relevant for any future ruts I'd find myself in, too, letting me know that I can always change myself and my situation even if it's only in a small way like changing my appearance.
...I think I could live with a tattoo. I should start looking for reputable artists now, because I think I'm going to save up and treat myself to one when I finally graduate.